Secrets – Vitamin D3 and Pregnancy

After watching the most amazing results of the increased Vitamin D3 and Vitamin K2 in my own personal health program, I thought it would be a good idea to review how important Vitamin D3 is in pregnancy, for both mother and baby. The information and research studies below have been collected by the Vitamin D Council and this article is reprinted with permission.

For those of you who wish to obtain Vitamin D from a natural source, fifteen minutes a day in the sun, exposing the areas you are able to, between the hours of 11:00 and Noon, is an ideal time for Vitamin D generation.

I hope that everyone that is on the program continues to see amazing results. Many seem to start off with experiencing a return to very deep sleep patterns and then the gradual healing of aches and pains and a steady improvement of mood and energy levels. Let me know what you experience. Best wishes, Gail

The information contained in or provided through this publication is intended for general consumer understanding and education only and is not intended to be, and is not provided as, a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your midwife, physician, or other qualified health care provider before you undergo any treatment or for answers to any questions you may have regarding any medical condition. The reply to your email questions is not a substitute for health care from your licensed health care provider. The answers to your questions do not constitute a patient-physician relationship. The answers to questions are meant to provide you with additional information to help you make health care decisions. You should always consult your health care provider before proceeding with any of the recommendations. The information contained within this correspondence is not intended to treat, diagnose, or claim to cure any medical condition or disease.

“In the last 3 years, an increasing amount of research suggests that some of the damage done by Vitamin D deficiency is done in-utero, while the fetus is developing. Much of that damage may be permanent, that is, it can not be fully reversed by taking Vitamin D after birth. This research indicates Vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy endangers the mother’s life and health, and is the origin for a host of future perils for the child, especially for the child’s brain and immune system. Some of the damage done by maternal Vitamin D deficiency may not show up for 30 years. Let’s start with the mother.
Incidence of Gestational Vitamin D Deficiency

Dr. Joyce Lee and her colleagues at the University of Michigan studied 40 pregnant women, the majority taking prenatal vitamins. Only two had blood levels >50 ng/mL and only three had levels >40 ng/mL. That is, 37 of 40 pregnant women had levels below 40 ng/mL, and the majority had levels below 20 ng/mL. More than 25% had levels below 10 ng/mL. Lee JM, Smith JR, Philipp BL, Chen TC, Mathieu J, Holick MF. Vitamin D deficiency in a healthy group of mothers and newborn infants. Clin Pediatr (Phila). 2007 Jan;46(1):42–4.

Dr. Lisa Bodnar, a prolific Vitamin D researcher, and her colleagues at the University of Pittsburg studied 400 pregnant Pennsylvania women; 63% had levels below 30 ng/mL and 44% of the black women in the study had levels below 15 ng/mL. Prenatal vitamins had little effect on the incidence of deficiency. Bodnar LM, Simhan HN, Powers RW, Frank MP, Cooperstein E, Roberts JM. High prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency in black and white pregnant women residing in the northern United States and their neonates. J Nutr. 2007 Feb;137(2):447–52.

Thus, more than 95% of pregnant women have 25(OH)D levels below 50 ng/mL, the level that may indicate chronic substrate starvation. That is, they are using up any Vitamin D they have very quickly and do not have enough to store for future use. Pretty scary.

Effects on the Mother

Caesarean section

The rate of Caesarean section in American women has increased from 5% in 1970 to 30% today. Dr. Anne Merewood and her colleagues at Boston University School of Medicine found women with levels below 15 ng/mL were four times more likely to have a Cesarean section than were women with higher levels. Among the few women with levels above 50 ng/mL, the Caesarean section rate was the same as it was in 1970, about 5%. Merewood A, Mehta SD, Chen TC, Bauchner H, Holick MF. Association between vitamin D deficiency and primary cesarean section. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2009 Mar;94(3):940–5.

Preeclampsia

Preeclampsia is a common obstetrical condition in which hypertension is combined with excess protein in the urine. It greatly increases the risk of the mother developing eclampsia and then dying from a stroke. Dr. Lisa Bodnar and her colleagues found women with 25(OH)D levels less than 15 ng/mL had a five-fold (5 fold) increase in the risk of preeclampsia. Bodnar LM, Catov JM, Simhan HN, Holick MF, Powers RW, Roberts JM. Maternal vitamin D deficiency increases the risk of preeclampsia. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2007 Sep;92(9):3517–22.

Gestational Diabetes

Diabetes during pregnancy affects about 5% of all pregnant women, is increasing in incidence, and may have deleterious effects on the fetus. Dr. Cuilin Zhang and colleagues at the NIH found women with low 25(OH)D levels were almost 3 times more likely to develop diabetes during pregnancy. Zhang C, Qiu C, Hu FB, David RM, van Dam RM, Bralley A, Williams MA. Maternal plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations and the risk for gestational diabetes mellitus. PLoS ONE. 2008;3(11):e3753.

Bacterial Vaginitis

Dr. Lisa Bodnar and her colleagues found pregnant women with the lowest 25(OH)D level are almost twice as likely to get a bacterial vaginal infection during their pregnancy. Bodnar LM, Krohn MA, Simhan HN. Maternal Vitamin D Deficiency Is Associated with Bacterial Vaginosis in the First Trimester of Pregnancy. J Nutr. 2009 Apr 8.

“Until we have better information on doses of vitamin D that will reliably provide adequate blood levels of 25(OH)D without toxicity, treatment of vitamin D deficiency in otherwise healthy children should be individualized according to the numerous factors that affect 25(OH)D levels, such as body weight, percent body fat, skin melanin, latitude, season of the year, and sun exposure. The doses of sunshine or oral vitamin D3 used in healthy children should be designed to maintain 25(OH)D levels above 50 ng/mL. As a rule, in the absence of significant sun exposure, we believe that most healthy children need about 1,000 IU of vitamin D3 daily per 11 kg (25 lb) of body weight to obtain levels greater than 50 ng/mL. Some will need more, and others less. In our opinion, children with chronic illnesses such as autism, diabetes, and/or frequent infections should be supplemented with higher doses of sunshine or vitamin D3, doses adequate to maintain their 25(OH)D levels in the mid-normal of the reference range (65 ng/mL) — and should be so supplemented year-round (p. 868).” Cannell JJ, Vieth R, Willett W, Zasloff M, Hathcock JN, White JH, Tanumihardjo SA, Larson-Meyer DE, Bischoff-Ferrari HA, Lamberg-Allardt CJ, Lappe JM, Norman AW, Zittermann A, Whiting SJ, Grant WB, Hollis BW, Giovannucci E. Cod liver oil, vitamin A toxicity, frequent respiratory infections, and the vitamin D deficiency epidemic. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol. 2008 Nov;117(11):864–70.

That’s right. Healthy children need about 1,000 IU per 25 pounds of body weight and their 25(OH)D levels should be >50 ng/mL, year-round.

Eight years before the above recommendations, Professor John McGrath of the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research theorized that maternal Vitamin D deficiency adversely “imprinted” the fetus, making infants more liable for a host of adult disorders. Research since that time has supported McGrath’s theory. Consider, for a minute, what it must be like for John McGrath, to know that maternal Vitamin D deficiency is causing such widespread devastation, to know it could be so easily treated, but to also know he must wait the decades that will be required to deal with the problem.McGrath J. Does ‘imprinting’ with low prenatal vitamin D contribute to the risk of various adult disorders? Med Hypotheses. 2001 Mar;56(3):367–71.

Schizophrenia

Dr. Dennis Kinney and his colleagues at Harvard published a fascinating paper last month on the role of maternal Vitamin D deficiency in the development of schizophrenia, in support of Dr. McGrath’s theory. As they point out, the role of inadequate Vitamin D during brain development appears to “overwhelm” other effects, explaining why schizophrenia has so many of the footprints of a maternal Vitamin D deficiency disorder, such as strong latitudinal variation, excess winter births, and skin color. Kinney DK, Teixeira P, Hsu D, Napoleon SC, Crowley DJ, Miller A, Hyman W, Huang E. Relation of schizophrenia prevalence to latitude, climate, fish consumption, infant mortality, and skin color: a role for prenatal vitamin d deficiency and infections? Schizophr Bull. 2009 May;35(3):582–95.

Autism

I will say not more, other than to point out that Scientific American ran a lengthy article last month on my autism theory but the editors insisted that the author not cite me, nor my paper, because I am “not a scientist.” Gabrielle Glaser. What If Vitamin D Deficiency Is a Cause of Autism? 2009 April 24. Scientific American.

Mental Retardation

The only evidence that Vitamin D deficiency is a common cause of mental retardation is from researchers at the CDC who found mild mental retardation is twice as common among African Americans as whites, and that the politically correct explanation—socioeconomic factors—cannot explain it. If latitudinal studies of mild mental retardation exist, I am unable to locate them. Yeargin-Allsopp M, Drews CD, Decoufle P, Murphy CC. Mild mental retardation in black and white children in metropolitan Atlanta: a case-control study. Am J Public Health 1995;85(3):324–8. Drews CD, Yeargin-Allsopp M, Decoufle P, Murphy CC. Variation in the influence of selected sociodemographic risk factors for mental retardation. Am J Public Health 1995;85(3):329–34.

Of course, it is claimed you are a racist if you believe these studies. In fact, a number of writers have told me their editors will not allow writers to discuss these studies in their stories. I am glad these studies were conducted by researchers at the CDC. Although, I worry about their political longevity at the CDC after reporting such findings.

I will mention one other fact (at my peril) and that is the fact that a very smart man, President Barack Obama, was born in the late summer (August) and has a brain that developed in a womb covered in white skin, during the spring and summer, in the subtropics (Latitude 21 degrees North), during an age before sun-avoidance was the mantra (1961). Make what you want to of that fact. My point is that whites living at temperate latitudes may have a huge developmental advantage over blacks, an advantage that begins immediately after conception, an advantage that has nothing to do with innate genetic ability and everything to do with environment.

Newborn Lower Respiratory Tract Infection

Newborn babies are vulnerable to infections in their lungs and women with the lowest 25(OH)D level during pregnancy were much more likely to have their newborn in the ICU being treated for lower respiratory tract infections. Drs. Walker and Modlin at UCLA recently presented reasons why viral pneumonia is probably only one of many pediatric Vitamin D deficient infections. Karatekin G, Kaya A, Salihoğlu O, Balci H, Nuhoğlu A. Association of subclinical vitamin D deficiency in newborns with acute lower respiratory infection and their mothers. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2009 Apr;63(4):473–7.Walker VP, Modlin RL. The Vitamin D Connection to Pediatric Infections and Immune Function. Pediatr Res. 2009 Jan 28.

Birth weight

While conflicting results exist on the effects of maternal Vitamin D deficiency and birth weight, the majority of the studies find an effect. Furthermore, the studies are comparing women who have virtually no intake to women who have minuscule intakes. For example, women who ingested around 600 IU per day were more likely to have normal weight babies compared to women whose intake was less than 300 IU per day. One can only wonder what would happen if pregnant women had adequate intakes? Drs. Scholl and Chen, at the Department of Obstetrics at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, concluded pregnant women need 6,000 IU per day, not the 400 IU/day contained in prenatal vitamins. Scholl TO, Chen X. Vitamin D intake during pregnancy: association with maternal characteristics and infant birth weight. Early Hum Dev. 2009 Apr;85(4):231–4.

Diabetes

My old nemesis, cod liver oil, when given during pregnancy resulted in children who were three times less likely to develop juvenile diabetes before the age of 15. Of course, this was back when cod liver oil had meaningful amounts of Vitamin D (these Norwegian mothers were taking cod liver oil in the 1980s). Stene LC, Ulriksen J, Magnus P, Joner G. Use of cod liver oil during pregnancy associated with lower risk of Type I diabetes in the offspring. Diabetologia. 2000 Sep;43(9):1093–8.

Seizures

Newborns frequently have seizures and those seizures are almost always due to low blood calcium. This problem is so common that many newborns are given a prophylactic injection of calcium. In 1978, researchers found such hypocalcemia can easily be prevented by giving Vitamin D. Sadly, standard treatment remains—not Vitamin D, but calcium and an analogue of activated Vitamin D. Such analogues do not correct Vitamin D deficiency. The fact that this was known in 1978 and has been routinely ignored by obstetricians since then should give you pause. Do not think science will solve the Vitamin D problem. Science simply points the way, activists must change the practice. Fleischman AR, Rosen JF, Nathenson G. 25-Hydroxycholecalciferol for early neonatal hypocalcemia. Occurrence in premature newborns. Am J Dis Child. 1978 Oct;132(10):973–7.

John McGrath’s group discovered that children with astrocytomas and ependymomas (brain tumors you do not want your child to have) were more likely to be born in the winter. Ko P, Eyles D, Burne T, Mackay-Sim A, McGrath JJ. Season of birth and risk of brain tumors in adults. Neurology. 2005 Apr 12;64(7):1317.

Epilepsy

Three studies have found that epileptic patients are much more likely to be born in the winter. Dr. Marco Procopio of the Priory Hospital Hove in Sussex has written all three. Procopio M, Marriott PK, Davies RJ. Seasonality of birth in epilepsy: a Southern Hemisphere study. Seizure. 2006 Jan;15(1):17–21.

Dr. Robert Schroth from the University of Manitoba reported that mothers of children who developed cavities at an early age had significantly lower vitamin D levels during pregnancy than those whose children were cavity-free. Megan Rauscher. Prenatal vitamin D linked to kids’ dental health. 2009. Reuters.

Asthma

The extant data here is conflicting. Two studies have found higher Vitamin D intakes during pregnancy decrease the risk of asthma in later childhood and one has found the opposite. The best review of the issue is by Drs. Augusto Litonjua and Scott Weiss, at Harvard, who conclude that the current epidemic of asthma among our children is related to both gestational and ongoing childhood vitamin D deficiency. Litonjua AA, Weiss ST. Is vitamin D deficiency to blame for the asthma epidemic? J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2007 Nov;120(5):1031–5.

In case you are wondering, black children are four times more likely than white children to be hospitalized or die from asthma. Akinbami LJ, Schoendorf KC. Trends in childhood asthma: prevalence, health care utilization, and mortality. Pediatrics. 2002 Aug;110(2 Pt 1):315–22.

My experience, both at the hospital and via my readers, is that asthma improves—albeit sometimes slowly—when adequate doses of Vitamin D are taken. However, Vitamin D does not appear to be a cure, like it is in some other conditions. I suspect children with asthma have suffered both gestational and ongoing childhood Vitamin D deficiency that probably altered, perhaps permanently, their immune system.

The Vitamin D Council’s Effort

We recently ran a ¼ page announcement in OB/GYN News and the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (AJOG). Unfortunately, the editor of AJOG censored our announcement after its first month, but we were able to get the full, three-month run in OB/GYN News. We also sent a very similar email to 18,000 obstetricians in the United States. The total cost to the Vitamin D Council for this campaign was about $12,000.00.

The announcement simply pointed out that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently recommended that all pregnant women have a 25(OH)D blood test because Vitamin D is important for normal fetal development (p. 1145):

“Given the growing evidence that adequate maternal vitamin D status is essential during pregnancy, not only for maternal well-being but also for fetal development, health care professionals who provide obstetric care should consider assessing maternal vitamin D status by measuring the 25-OH-D concentrations of pregnant women. On an individual basis, a mother should be supplemented with adequate amounts of vitamin D3 to ensure that her 25-OH-D levels are in a sufficient range (>32 ng/mL). The knowledge that prenatal vitamins containing 400 IU of vitamin D3 have little effect on circulating maternal 25-OH-D concentrations, especially during the winter months, should be imparted to all health care professionals.” Wagner CL, Greer FR; American Academy of Pediatrics Section on breastfeeding; American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Nutrition. Prevention of rickets and vitamin D deficiency in infants, children, and adolescents. Pediatrics. 2008 Nov;122(5):1142–52.

As the AAP recommendation came from an official medical body, to medical malpractice attorneys it represents evidence of a “standard of care” for future lawsuits. We also reminded obstetricians that the statute of limitations on malpractice suits does not toll (begin) until the injured party recognizes the injury. That is, the parents of a 5-year-old child diagnosed with autism five years in the future may bring suit against that obstetrician for how the child was treated during his time in the uterus, citing the 2008 AAP’s recommendation as a standard of care. Obstetricians are already burdened with lawsuits, but they could decrease the number of suits significantly if they would just take the time to learn about Vitamin D.

Finally, we used our last $12,000 to produce and run a television announcement in the Washington, D.C. TV market, entitled Pregnancy and Vitamin D.

What can you do?

Most people want to do good—at least some good—in their lives. The endless pursuit of the God-almighty dollar, better clothes, better houses and better vacations than your neighbors eventually leaves a hole in your soul. Here is an opportunity to fill it.

If you don’t feel that soul hole, try a meditation I learned at Esalen Institute in the 1980s and have practiced ever since. Lie on the floor and pretend you are dead in your grave. Feel the worms, smell the rot, sense the finality. Then, when you really feel dead, visualize your gravestone above. What does it say? “Here lies Robert; he had a big fancy house.” “Here lies Vanessa; she wore beautiful clothes and had four face lifts.” Here lies Michael; he made a billion dollars.” Through this meditation, I realized I want my gravestone to say, “Here lies John, he did something good.”

One good thing you can do is simply tell every pregnant woman and women thinking of getting pregnant that she needs to take more Vitamin D, a lot more. Pregnant women need a minimum of 5,000 IU per day and even that dose will not achieve 25(OH)D levels of >50 ng/mL in all women. Why not buy a few bottles of 5,000 IU capsules and hand out the bottles to your pregnant friends? You can get 250 vitamin D capsules for 15 bucks. Or, forward this email to them. Show them our Pregnancy and Vitamin D public service announcement.

If you want to do more, why not get a copy of our Pregnancy and Vitamin D public service announcement by emailing our webmaster at http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/releases.shtml.”(the ad is not copyrighted) and then pay to run it on a TV station in your hometown? You can easily add a caption at the bottom saying this public service announcement is being sponsored by your company, combining a good deed with good business.

Alas, no glory will be yours, at least in this life. No woman will ever thank you for the schizophrenic child she never had, for the trips to the emergency room with a breathless child that she never made, for the repetitive moaning of the autistic child she never endured. Although, she may wonder why her pregnancy was so easy and why her infant is so healthy, alert, active, and smart.”

Humans make thousands of units of vitamin D within minutes of whole body exposure to sunlight. From what we know of nature, it is unlikely such a system evolved by chance.~ Dr. John Cannell, Executive Director, Vitamin D Council.

If you think of it evolutionarily, it’s the oldest hormone on this Earth. I don’t think that this is going to be a flash in the pan. ~ Dr. Michael F. Holick, Vitamin D expert.

Because vitamin D is so cheap and so clearly reduces all-cause mortality, I can say this with great certainty: Vitamin D represents the single most cost-effective medical intervention in the United States. ~ Dr. Greg Plotnikoff, Medical Director, Penny George Institute for Health and Healing, Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis.

I believe [vitamin D] is the number one public health advance in medicine in the last twenty years. ~ Dr. John Whitcomb, Aurora Sinai Medical Center.

Light is the basic component from which all life originates, evolves, and is energized. Light and health are inseparable. ~ Ken Ceder, former co-director Hippocrates Health Institute, Boston, Massachusetts.

Sunlight is more powerful than any drug; it is safe, effective, and available free of charge. If it could be patented, it would be hyped as the greatest medical breakthrough in history. It’s that good. ~ Mike Adams, natural health researcher and author.

Natural sunlight’s benefits are not limited to vitamin D production. As light enters the eyes, photoreceptors convert the light into nerve impulses that travel along the optic nerve to the brain. These impulses trigger the hypothalamus gland to send neurotransmitters to regulate the automatic functions of the body, such as blood pressure, body temperature, respiration, digestion, sexual function, moods, immune and hormonal modulation, and circadian rhythm. ~ John Maher, DC, DCCN, FAAIM.

This is like the Holy Grail of cancer medicine; vitamin D produced a drop in cancer rates greater than that for quitting smoking, or indeed any other countermeasure in existence. ~ Dennis Mangan, clinical laboratory scientist.

No other method to prevent cancer has been identified that has such a powerful impact. ~ Dr. Cedric Garland, Vitamin D expert.

Vitamin D is a hormone… powerful, potent, and paleo-to-the-core. Since pre-paleolithic times, Vitamin D has been produced in our skin from the UVB radiation of sunlight. The sun indeed powers nearly all life on earth. It is essential and signals reproduction, energy and longevity for not just humans but all land and marine plants, prokaryotes, and animals. ~ Dr. BG, pharmacologist
.
I would challenge anyone to find an area or nutrient or any factor that has such consistent anti-cancer benefits as vitamin D. The data are really quite remarkable. ~ Dr. Edward Giovannucci, Vitamin D expert.

In all my many years of practice of medicine, I’ve never seen one vitamin, even vitamin C, have such profound effects on human health. ~ Dr. Soram Khalsa, board-certified internist and medical director for the East-West Medical Research Institute.

We estimate that vitamin D deficiency is the most common medical condition in the world. ~ Dr. Michael F. Holick, Vitamin D expert.

Our most important hormones depend upon adequate reserves of cholesterol for their production and nowhere is this more important than as the precursor substance for the synthesis of Vitamin D, known also as calcitriol. Researchers in this field are sufficiently concerned from the results of their studies to pronounce that we are in the midst of an epidemic of vitamin D deficiency of immense proportion. ~ Duane Graveline MD
MPH, former NASA Astronaut, former USAF flight surgeon, and retired family doctor.

The problem is that vitamin D is not really a vitamin, it’s a hormone. If your thyroid hormone level was low, you’d gain 20, 30, or more pounds in weight, your blood pressure would skyrocket, you’d lose your hair, become constipated, develop blood clots, be terribly fatigued. In other words, you’d suffer profound changes. Likewise, if thyroid hormone levels are corrected by giving you thyroid hormone, you’d experience profound correction of these phenomena. That’s what I’m seeing with vitamin D: restoration of this hormone to normal blood levels (25-OH-vitamin D3 50 ng/mL) yields profound changes in the body. ~ Dr. William Davis, cardiologist.

Vitamin D is perhaps the single most powerful nutrient in the known universe for preventing influenza. ~ Mike Adams, natural health researcher and author.

The Sun is the cosmological phenomenon which is mainly responsible for what the world has become and it would be impossible to remove from the skies without ending the existences of most of all living beings in the same process. ~ Unknown.

No life at all would be possible on this planet without the sun…To teach people to be afraid of the sun is harmful health advice that will ultimately kill more people than it saves. Most people have too little sunlight, not too much. ~ Mike Adams, natural health researcher and author.

Vitamin D is cholecalciferol, a hormone. Deficiencies of hormones can have catastrophic consequences. ~ Dr. William Davis, cardiologist.

Vitamin D deficiency is an unrecognized, emerging cardiovascular risk factor, which should be screened for and treated. Vitamin D is easy to assess, and supplementation is simple, safe, and inexpensive. ~ James H. O’Keefe MD, cardiologist and Director of Preventive Cardiology, Mid America Heart Institute, Kansas City, Missouri.

It has been clearly established that the only way for your body to synthesize vitamin D is in your skin once it’s exposed to ultraviolet rays from the sun. Hence, the current guidelines to avoid sun exposure, and the fervent pushing of sunscreen, are perhaps some of the most misguided and dangerous health recommendations out there. ~ Leif Grunseth, certified neuromuscular therapist.

The sun is the orchestra leader for the dance of life. Every living thing on earth vibrates to the energy of the sun, including people. For a long time people have been victims of a huge scam that made them think they were supposed to hide indoors or under a blanket of sunscreen while the rest of life basked in the glory of the sun. Now they are catching on that they too need the sun’s life-giving force. ~ Barbara Minton, natural health editor.

Whoever wishes to investigate medicine properly should proceed thus: in the first place to consider the seasons of the year. ~ Hippocrates, the father of medicine (circa 400 B.C.).

Gail J. Dahl is a childbirth researcher, award winning and national bestselling author. She is the founder and Executive Director of the Canadian Childbirth Association. Dahl has received many awards, including “The YWCA Woman of Distinction Award”, “The Woman of Vision Award” and “The Great Women of the 21st Century Award” for her contributions toward women’s health and education.

Copyright 2010, Copyright released with references if the article is to be used for the purpose of childbirth education. “Pregnancy & Childbirth Secrets” by National Bestselling Author Gail J. Dahl. Now available across North America at Barnes & Noble, Borders, Chapters and Indigo Books & Music. For more great secrets see the website at: http://web.mac.com/pregnancysecrets. The information contained in or provided through this publication is intended for general consumer understanding and education only and is not intended to be, and is not provided as, a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your midwife, physician, or other qualified health care provider before you undergo any treatment or for answers to any questions you may have regarding any medical condition.

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6 thoughts on “Secrets – Vitamin D3 and Pregnancy”

Almost nothing better than a fishing joke. My dad just shared this joke with me: Fishing rules:Fishing rule #1: The least experienced fisherman always catches the biggest fish. Fishing rule #2: The worse your line is tangled, the better is the fishing around you. Fishing rule #3: Fishing will do a lot for a man but it won’t make him truthful.

Hi There!
What a Amazing Report of Vitamin D ,I lost a 10 weeks old baby in June 2011 ,I live in England and I think the medicine sucks here,it makes perfect sence ,…in cold countries where we dont have much SUN ,VITAMIN D3 !!! I am pregnant again after I had a Key Surgery in september the doctor told me my left Ovary is not good anymore,and it was going to be really difficult for me to get pregnant again,so I start taking VITAMIN D3 and B12, we whent to see my Mother to Southamerica and GUESS what? sunshine +sunshine = BABY I am 5 weeks now and I will keep taking them FOREVER now ,and give the Vitamin to my family,Thank you sooooo much for all your reseach I am sure it will help 100s. of pregnant Women ,…I hope millions.
Thank You
Giovanna

I have been trying to research information on the different supplements I have been taking since before I became pregnant (unplanned). Since about 2006 I have been shedding hair. 2 years ago, it became dramtically worse. I have been to two dermatologist, and my obgyn for answers (hormones?). Well, hormones were normal, possible telegon effluvium (sp?) due to stress ( I have a lot of stress). I also have at times a scalp itch that no anti-itch dandruff shampoo except for Nizoral OTC will control. That unfortunately can’t be found anywhere I’ve been looking in the US for the last year and a half. Anyway, I have been taking 7500mg Biotin, 5000 IU’s of D3 w/red wine extract and restervol (sp? again sorry), MSM 1000mg, recently (last month) Chlorophyll (alfalfa), 1000mg Vitamin C w/bioflavnoids,and Chelated Manganese. Well, I decided to go off my birth control pill 3 months ago. First month, my husband and I were not so careful, second month we were more careful (he was also gone a week and half and lets just say he complains about the amount he isn’t getting anyway 😉 and so, as I’m waiting on my period (3rd month off) it didn’t come. Took a pregnancy test, positive. I am 43 years old, it took me 8 months after being off the pill to conceive my daughter at the age of 39. I think that something I was taking made me a fertile myrtle!! I did take B12 for a period of time but only briefly for the 1st month of being off my bc pill. My concern is the amount of Biotin I’m taking and the D3. I have supplemented with 800mg of Folic Acid recently but have not started a prenatal. I have not been to the doctor but I know he will frown on the amounts. Actually it has only been 4 days since my positive pregnancy test, i’m still kind of in shock 🙂